West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has been charged with three alleged offences under the Animal Welfare Act after a video emerged in February that appeared to show him kicking and slapping his cat.
Zouma’s brother Yoan, who plays for Dagenham and Redbridge, has also been charged with two alleged offences following an investigation by the RSPCA.
The Zouma brothers are expected to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The RSPCA removed the two cats from Kurt Zouma’s home following the video’s publication in February and continues to care for them.
Zouma has been accused of two counts of causing “unnecessary suffering” as well as one count of failing to protect the cat from “pain suffering, injury or disease”.
Yoan Zouma has been accused of two counts of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring” Kurt to commit the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to the cat.
Kurt Zouma was reportedly fined two weeks’ wages by West Ham, worth around £250,000, but he continued to play for the club.
